AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY

NOTES ON LA TE~EGYPTIAN
PUNCTUATION
M. KOROSTOVTSEV
Institute of the Peoples of ASIa, Moscow
Egypt is a country many times mentioned in the pages of the
Bible and judging by the biblical data on Egypt the authors of
the Bible were well informed on the country of pharaohs. There
fore the topic "Egypt and the Bible"-a vast topic which contains
many very different problems-attracted the interest not only of
biblical archeologists, but as well the attention of professional
Egyptologists. Since the beginning of Egyptology many books and
articles were dedicated to these problems. But it is necessary to
point out that they have a very different scientific value and the
problems raised and examined in them are yet far from their
final solution. There is no necessity to recall the long list of these
books and articles. Nevertheless an excellent study published by
a professional Egyptologist should be mentioned here. 1 Far less
known are works dedicated to the difficult problem of the connec
tions betewen Egyptian and Hebrew languages. The work of the
Hebrew scholar A. S. Yahuda 2 has met a severe critic from such
an authority as T. E. Peet. 3 The present article does not bear on
studies of this type-it deals only with some points of Late
Egyptian syntax, without any comparison whatever with Hebrew.
It is well known that since the New Kingdom some Egyptian
texts have red points which separate different groups of words
from other groups of words or from single words. A. Erman
explained these points as signs that separate verses in songs. 4
Another scientist concerned with the problem gives the following
point of view:
"the circles of red points separating verses in poems written in
hieratic since the New Kingdom were generally interpreted as signs
1. Vergote, J., Joseph en Egypte. Genese Chap. 3750 a la lumiere des
etudes egyptologiques recentes. Louvain, 1959.
2. Yahuda, A. S .. Die Sprache des Pentateuch in ihren Beziehungen zum
Agyptischen, Berlin. 1929.
3. JEA. 30 (1916), 157160.
4. A. Erman, Neuagyptische Grammatik, Leipzig, 1933, 56.

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of punctuation. Some observers compared them to the medieval

"puncta" in the medieval West. . . . They recall that the Greek
"stygma" indicated at the same time the fall of the voice and
its rest, a sort of pause 01: silence. One can presume that the
red points of the Egyptian scribes, as those of the Cop tic medieval
manuscripts, had approximately the same significance: they indicated a computed silence (i.e., an implied rhyme) and a fall of
voice (i.e., an implied melody)."5
.
Undoubtedly the explanation of A. Erman and H. Hickman is
substantial and important and cannot be repudiated. But unfortunately it does not cover all known facts and therefore is insufficient. It is well known that we find red points in texts which are
neither poems nor songs, a fact that is recognised by A. Erman
himself. 6 Then what was the function of the red points in such
texts? Undoubtedly the function of computed silence was utilised
and this brings us to the notion of punctuation and A. Erman
admits that in general the Egyptian punctuation corresponds to
our feeling, but in certain cases it contradicts it. For instance:
(1) ntj m t3 c n sb3 inn f "which were in school with him"
Blinding of Truth, 5.2. This example is really very instructive: if the point after the preposition irm.f "with him"
undoubtedly has the significance of a point (as the point which
begins a new sentence), what significance has the point before
inn.f? One can assume for this case, but not prove, that it is
an error. But it would be imprudent to explain all cases of
discrepancy between Egyptian and our modern punctuation
by the carelessness of Egyptian scribes.

To my knowledge the sole Egyptologist, apart from A. Erman

and H. Hickman, who has dwelt on the problem of Egyptian
punctuation is N. Petrovsky from Leningrad. 7 The point of view
of this author is different from the explanation of red points by
A. Erman and H. Hickman. N. Petrovsky advances the following
explanation: the red points are used to separate one syntagme
from the other, they are syntagme points.8 Now what is a
syntagme? The discussion of this question would lead as far away

5. H. Hickman, Musicologie pharaonique. 1956, Kehl, Rhin. p. 71-72

(Le probleme de la notation musicale dans l'Egypte pharaonique).
6. A. Erman, op. cit. 56.
7. N. Petrovsky in "Egyptology and Assyriology Studies presented to
V. V. Struve", Leningrad, 1964 (in Russian), p. 117-126.
8. ib. p. 124-126.
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from our direct problem because linguists (F. de Saussure, V. V.

Vinogradov, etc.) are not unanimous in the definition of a
syntagme or a sense-group. Thus the very interesting research of
N. Petrovsky does not exclude other explanations. The present
author advances a new interpretation of the red points though he
has not examined in an exhaustive manner all the existing material
(i.e., all manuscripts containing red points).
A brief survey of texts shows that red points separate simple
clauses, verbal or non-verbal, from other simple clauses.

f hr sdr hnc t3j f hl11t 111 p3 grh "he slept with his wife
this night." Doomed Prince, 4.2. The sentence is between two
red points.

(1) iw

(2) wn in sn hr whm sn 11 h111 f "they repeated them to his

majesty", ib. 4.5. This sentence, like the preceding, stands
between two points.
(3) wn in hm

f wd3 sl1b hr hprw iw ib f dw r C3t wrt

"then his majesty became exceeding sore at heart", ib. 4.5.

Here is quoted the excellent translation of T. E. Peet. 9
This example is very instructive. The sentence iw ib f dw r C3t
wrt is formally an independent sentence, but from the semantic point of view it is a subordinate sentence. Such sentences
can be called auxiliary clauses.lO But the auxiliary sentence
in question has another specific trait: it is an idiomatic expression explaining after the verb hpr "come into being"ll what
exactly comes. We find exactly the same use of the corresponding verb in CopticP Therefore this example does not
break the rule according to which a simple sentence is situated
between two points. In our case the sentence (3) is situated
between points.
1111 "now when many days had gone
by" ib. 4. ll-an evident subordinate clause of time, i.e., a

(4) hr ir m-M hrw sw3 hr

9. T. E. Peet, The Legend of the Capture of Joppa and the Story of

the Foredoomed Prince, lEA, XI, 1925, p. 227.
10. Cf. A. H. Gardiner, Egyptian Grammar, t82: "when a subordinate
clause has nothing to distinguish it from a complete sentence except
its meaning and syntactic function it is called a virtual subordinate
clause."
11. A. Taulkner, A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Oxford, 1962,
p. 188.
12. W. Till, Koptische Grammatik, Leipzig, 1955, p. 171; 283, etc.
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simple clause. It starts immediately after a point which stands

at the end of the preceding sentence and is also separated
from the following main clause by a point.

(5) iw t hr ph p3 ssd n t3 sri n p3 wr n N3h3rin "he reached

the window of the daughter of the chief of Naharin" ib. 6.6.
(6) p3i k i1t p3i "thy father is this." Blinding of Truth, 5.98
(7)

nim ifrr k3mn tw "who has blinded you?" ib. 5.7.

(8) mtw k s3w n i p3j ih "keep for me this bull" ib. 7.5.
(9) mtw w i3dt i "and they torment me" ib 5.7.

In all these cases we have simple sentences situated between

two red points. Such examples could be easily augmented and they
give ground to believe that the red point served to separate a
simple sentence from another one. In this function the red point
nearly corresponds to our full stop. More difficult to explain are
red points that separate not simple sentences but groups of words
or single words. There also arises the question as why two simple
propositions introduced by iw as in 7.3 Pr. are not separated by a
red point? Are these facts the manifestation of the well-known
carelessness of the Egyptian scribes or are they to be explained
otherwise?
Undoubtedly A. Erman was right in maintaining that the red
points were marked after the text was written and very often
in haste and without due attention. 13 Undoubtedly certain cases
are to be explained in this way. But it is impossible to admit the
carele~sness of scribes in each case where the use of a red point
is in evident discrepancy with our feeling of punctuation. This
problem demands an exhaustive research of the available punctuated texts and we have to bear in mind the fact that we find
contradictory use of red points in analogous situations. Thus
oratio recta is often separated by a red point from the preceding
text- Pr. 4.8; 5.5-6; 5.l0; 5.11; 5.14; 6.2; 6.8, etc., but in the same
kind of text in a series of other cases it,is not separatedPr. 4.9; 5.2; 6.7; 6.10; 6.11; 6.12.
The circumstance is often separated from the previous parts
of the sentence by a red point, thus in the same text of the

13. A. Erman, op. cit. 56.

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Doomed Prince: 4.11; 6.6; 6.8; 7.14; 8.6; 8.7. In other passages as
8.9; 8.11; 7.12; 7.15 the red point is missing.
Relative clauses introduced by ntj are sometimes separated
(7.10), sometimes not (4.4; 4.8).
In the passages 4.4 and 7.6 of the Doomed Prince we find the
red points separating not clauses, but words:
(10) iw sn hr dd 111wt f n p3 mshw m-n3-pw hf3w mitt p3
iw "they said he shall die either by the crocodile or the snake
or the dog", Pr. 4.4; the English translation (of T. E. Peet)
does not require here any punctuation, but the French translation of G. Lefebvre) does: "elles dirent: il perira par le
crocodile ou par le serpent, Oll encore par le chien" .14
(11) twi wd kwi n 3 s3j p3 l11.1'h11'. p3 hf3w. iw "I am ordained to
three fates, the crocodile, the snake or the dog" ib. f.6
(translation of T. E. Peet); "je suis promis a trois destins:
le crocodile, le serpent, le chien" (translation of G. Lefebvre).
The comparison of the Late-Egyptian punctuation on one
hand and the punctuation in the translation of these passages into
English and French on the other hand shows a nearly exact
correspondence: the only substantial difference is that in LateEgyptian the sole sign of punctuation is the red point while in
English and French stops. commas and colons are used.
(12) iw f h,. t3j lOn ckw WC hCw WC rdwj tiwt WC hnj WC ~1d
"he took 10 breads, a staff, a pair of sandals, a water-skin, a
sword", Blinding of Truth; 7.1; "il prit dix pains, un laton,
une paire de sandales, une outre, une epee (translation of G.
Lefebvre). In this passage the red point functions clearly as a
comma.

Very instructive from this point of view is the list from

Anastasi Ill, 2.3-2.8 where are enumerated different sorts of food;
each word denoting a sort of food is separated from the other by
a red stop.
Now if we lay aside all cases where the red points though
expected are missing and jf we examine the cases where they are
present we are bound to come to the following conclusion: red
points are used:
(1) As a stop to separate simple clauses.

14. G. Lefebvre, Romans et contes egyptiens, Paris, 1949, p. 118.

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(2) As commas before clauses of circumstance and relative

clauses to separate these clauses from main clauses; to separate
words enumerating different objects.
(3) As colon before oratio recta.
This study does not pretend to be full and exhaustive and
many cases where the red points are used have not been examined.
But it is clear from the convergence of evidence that the red point
fulfilled the functions of different signs of punctuation and not the
sole function of our stop.
If the lack of red points in punctuated texts is easily explained
by the lack of due attention by the scribes the apparent contradictory use of the red point is well explained by its polysemantic
functiQn.
.

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